Christ Establishes Righteousness — H. Robb French

The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20 and let us begin to read at the 10th verse and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever and I saw a great white throne and him that sat on the throne from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the book books according to their work and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their work and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now I'm going to get in trouble I suppose with some of the Bible expositors and all the other people. Many of them don't believe in a general judgment and I'm not going to be too dogmatic on point but I I rather think about the time when Jesus Christ is going to establish his own righteousness.

God will vindicate himself. Won't that be a tremendous crowd if you think about it? Hell gives up the dead that were in them. My the multitudes of people while we're sitting in this tabernacle comfortably tonight are weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth in hell.

And the angels will be there. The Trinity will be there I believe. The redeemed saints will be there. It just seems to me like they stretch out there from sky to sky. A tremendous multitude and God Almighty is going to establish and vindicate his own righteousness.

A Personal Fear of Judgment and the Loss of Children

The judgment to me is a very difficult subject to speak of. I seldom ever do but I'm concerned about it. I had a mother that drilled this truth into my mind. I stand before you a hell-scared Christian.

I don't understand her. My mother talked she would take my little hand and hold it close to the fire. I'd say mama that's hot. She'd say wouldn't it be terrible to burn in hell forever. You say I don't believe in that method of bringing up children.

Maybe you don't. Maybe you're losing your children. A lot of parents are. But I thank God for an old-fashioned mother. Agreed the book is one somebody said from kibber to kibber. From cover to cover.

That great crowd. It'll probably be the greatest crowd that has ever assembled. The patriarchs will be there. The prophets will be there. The apostles will be there. Dear Moody will be there. Charles Finney will be there.

You will be there. And I will be there. I kind of think of a death-like silence settled down upon that great crowd. They've come to the judgment bar of God. Now I know some of the Bible students have taken this with me over here.

But you let me talk about it. I like to think about it. Jesus Christ himself walks out from the crowd and takes the seat upon the judgment throne. Somebody smiles. Somebody is happy. Why? Oh, that's Jesus.

That's the man that said to that woman taking adultery, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. He's a merciful man. He's our Savior now. How longsuffering he is. He's been so patient with me. He's been patient with all of us.

I don't understand the infinite mercy of God, my friend. People can curse and blaspheme and damn and do everything that's wicked, but he lets them live on. He's merciful. We wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't for the infinite boundless mercies of Almighty God.

Christ the Merciful Savior and the Coming Judge

But he's no longer the merciful Christ hanging on the cross and crying, it's finished. Coming forth from the sepulchre to declare victory over death, hell in the grave, he's the judge now. Christ that sat in private judgment hall.

You ever think about that? There wasn't a friend. He didn't have a friend in that judgment hall. He didn't have a witness to testify for him. He was all alone. Everybody in that judgment hall was against him.

Pilate was kind of, seemed like sympathetic to him, but he eventually turned him over into the hands of this bloodthirsty crowd. He didn't have a friend. He didn't have one to get up and testify. Seemed like Peter would have been there.

Looks like John the Beloved that leaned on his breast at the Last Supper and loved him so passionately, looked like he would have been there. I'll stay with you, Jesus. I'll sit by your side. I'll do what I can to witness in your favor, but he didn't.

He ran off somewhere and Jesus stood alone, sat alone in the judgment hall. He climbed Golgotha's brow alone. He died alone. There was a crowd around him, but not a friend. They were scared. They were hiding out somewhere.

You know, he's on trial today and a lot of people are hiding out. They're afraid of losing their place or the reputation of their name as they identify themselves with the cause of this humble man of Galilee.

Old-time religion has never, never been popular and it never will. If you're attending a popular church, you're attending the wrong church. The old-fashioned way has never been popular. There's opposition.

There's persecution. The closer you get to Jesus Christ, you can take that as a measuring stick, if you will, the more you will be persecuted and misunderstood. I don't mean for your meanness. I mean for just your devotion to Jesus Christ.

The world is crucifying him again. They're denying his existence and denying his deity and denying everything. They're still nailing him to the cross. But thank God he has some lovers. He has some friends.

He has some folks that have fallen in deep love with him. Death and hell delivered up the dead, but you're in them. I think about the time when the cemeteries will crack open. People are crawling out of their graves and pulled by some divine gravity up there to that place where their great clouds assemble.

Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. Well, I want us to look at this man sitting on the judgment throne. He's the one that said, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. What mercy he has.

Ministers as Watchmen Before God

Well, who's going to be there? I'm going to kind of classify the people a little bit, isn't I? The preachers are going to be there. Brother, it means something to be a God called preacher. It means something to be true to your mission.

Maybe we all take it too lightly, but it's a tremendous responsibility. My brother, it's a serious hour in which you live, but Jesus is sitting on the throne and he's looking out over the crowd. There's a death-like silence there.

He looks over the crowd. Oh my God, the books. The very thought of it scares me. I'm writing a book. I'm not doing the writing, but I'm furnishing the material. The record of my life is going to be open there.

The books are open. Aye, that's enough to frighten anybody. The hidden sins, the unconfessed sins. Those that are on the blood will not come out. I don't believe. They're forgotten. The fellow had a vision of heaven and a vision of Christ and it was so real to him, he said, Lord, I feel so sorry.

The Lord Jesus said to him, why are you sorry for those sins I've committed? He said, I don't remember them, I forgot all about them. That's old-time religion if you're asking me. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The ministers are going to be there, the preachers are going to be there. You know, Ezekiel said, the Lord spoke to Ezekiel, he had a vision of a man on the walls, you know, going around crying out as they used to do on those walled cities.

They'd cry out all is well and if an enemy come, they'd give the warning call. And he said, I have put you upon the wall. I want you to call and warn the people. Are we doing that, friend? Preachers, ministers, fellow ministers, are we warning the people?

If thou speak not to warn the wicked from his way, his blood will I require at your hand. I don't want to die with blood on my hands and on my heart. I fail to preach the truth. I fail to stand by the old-fashioned Bible gospel.

It's an unpopular way. You won't be called to too big a church. If you cry out against sin, if you stand against evil, you may be an unpopular fellow. You may not get the big salaries, but you can have the smile of Jesus on your heart.

Well, that's a solemn thought, friend. We're watchmen on the wall. Oh, how many false doctrines are coming. Teachers are coming. Don't be afraid to cry out against the false doctrines and the false teachers.

If we don't, God will require the blood of the people at our hands. Well, we've got a sting around the Holy Circle. He preaches so much on things. Well, I'd like to know what else you could preach on.

That's a big term. That's a comprehensive term, things. You wouldn't have anything? John the Baptist preached on things. Wouldn't you like to hear John the Baptist preach? He's an old generation of vipers.

I've never gone that far. I never call people snakes. Old generation of vipers who have warned you to free from the wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruits meek for repentance and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham your father, for God is able of these stones to raise up children.

They came to be baptized with... I believe he refused to baptize them. They were not proper candidates for water baptism. He was baptizing some of the folks, but this crowd that came, the soldier said, what are we doing?

He told them, don't charge, don't take more than you're supposed to get for your pain. Why wouldn't America change her complexions if we had a few John the Baptists going up and down the country, crying out against sin.

He lost his head, but he saved his soul. He said to that old king that married that brother's wife, he said, it isn't lawful for you to have your brother's wife. He didn't have to do that, but he was out to warn people.

He was out to clear himself of the blood of souls. He lost his head. Thank God, I expect to meet him on the streets of the new Jerusalem. Some of us might lose our heads. I'm not talking about being harsh or unkind.

Maybe you think I am. Well, I've got a heart full of love, but I'll tell you, friends, it's an awful day. The soldier said, what'll we do? He said, be content with your wages. God help us. Jesus preached that.

Jesus' Severe Warnings Against Sin

You know we have an idea that Jesus, gentle Jesus, meek and mild. My brother, he was one of the most terrific preachers that this country's ever known. All of you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. I've never preached that straight, that strong.

Just read that chapter through. Woe, woe unto you, woe unto you. He wouldn't have been crucified if he preached like some of us preach. Hmm. God help us. In that wonderful sermon on the mount, my friends, read it and reread it.

Oh, take it as a monitor of your life. Why, he said, whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed an adultery. That's awful strong. And I wonder what about the woman that dresses to attract the lustful gaze.

Hmm. God help us. I thank God in my early life that I heard some old-fashioned preachers. I'm not condemning you. I love this. We're having a straight, we had a straight this morning. Too straight for something.

We're having some strong preaching here, I'll tell you. Brother, it couldn't be straighter. Thank God for that. Praise the Lord. We had a fellow by the name of Henry Williams. He was tall and strong, and he had piercing eyes.

Mrs. Young or Mrs. Flint, you know who I'm talking about. Brother, when Henry Williams got up to preach, just to look at him as he'd go to the altar nearly, he was solemn and serious. Oh, how he would pour on the truth.

He would just seem like to me, skin is alive. And then he'd say, everybody stand, and the crowd would stand up. And then he said, somebody may be struck dead here tonight like Ananias and Sapphira. You're going to tell a lie if you're not careful.

And I tell you, he'd make it hot and heavy, and then he'd say, everybody that knows that you're saved and sanctified, you, oh, he'd go on and make it so strong. Sit down. Very few would sit down. He'd say, come to the altar.

Brother, there wasn't room enough at the altar. Boy, the whole crowd nearly was coming to the altar. Why, Mrs. Flint's mother, Mrs. Young's mother was a very godly woman. She was a Bible student. I thought of her every once in a while.

I wish I could see her again and ask her some questions. She was a Bible student. I asked her one time. She was going down to a little town there. Her grandson was working down there, and she'd spend the week down in the big 12-room house.

We used to have it for an orphanage. Big bungalows and frame house. I said, mother, don't you ever get lonesome? She said, not when I have the Bible. But she said the perspiration would break out on her face when Henry Williams would make those tests, and she'd barely tremble.

I'm not going to make that test. Don't get scared here. At least I don't expect to. But I do thank God for those creatures that trim clothes. It drove us to our knees. It drove us to the closet. It meant something to be born from above.

It meant something to be sanctified holy. It meant something to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Hallelujah. Sanctification doesn't mean much anymore in a lot of places and to a lot of folks.

The Holy Ghost, Sanctification, and Revival Power

It means as much as it did when the disciples received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in the Upper Room. Not every preacher believes that. He said, we'll never have that again. Well, I don't know. Bless God.

I believe we ought to have something in this camp meeting again, depending on. But the Holy Ghost is here. We don't have to wait for him to come. He's here. In the fullness of his personality and power.

And when he comes, people will cry out, men and brethren, what shall we do? Under conviction, when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Thank God. Why, Benjamin Habbitt, that old Methodist preacher, they said in the closing years of his life he never preached but what somebody fell under the power while he was preaching.

I don't know why that sacred ministry has left the church. I'd like to see it again. I guess we don't live close enough to the Lord. We don't spend enough time on our knees. We don't have the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

We ought to have. I've told you again and again, I've seen as many as 16 at one time lying prostrate on the floor. People thought nothing about it. I mean, in a sense, it didn't scare them. They were used to it.

Why, in one of those old time Methodist meetings, the people fell, so many of them, that it took all the saints to carry the bodies out to make room for others to fall. Wouldn't you like to be in a meeting like that?

I tell you, that's Holy Ghost power. Praise God. They said he never preached in his later years but what somebody was struck down, sinners under conviction. Oftentimes sinners would be struck down under conviction.

They couldn't move. Well, Caroline, finally they'd come through. Saints would be struck down. I was holding a meeting in one of the hardest places in the state of Kansas to hold a meeting, an old burnt-over district, and I hated to go there.

They'd been preached to and preached to and preached to, just what they called a burnt-over district. But I was preaching one night and there was a large crowd. The churches were quite well filled. And I gave the order to call and no one came.

And the crowd started out. Oh, I said, Lord, is this all we can have for Sunday night? Is this the best we can do? I heard somebody groan. And Jura Macy, one of our missionaries to Africa years ago, had sank down in her seat and she was groaning.

They all left but one young man sitting in the back of the church. And I thought, I wonder why that fellow don't go. What's he staying here for? He was an unsaved young man. He'd wiped the perspiration from his face.

Finally, it occurred to me, I wonder if she's burning for that young man. How did he know? Her groans were subdued. Ten o 'clock came and eleven o 'clock came and twelve o 'clock came and she's still groaning and he's still wiping his face.

Finally, he jumped from his seat and rushed to that altar. As soon as he rushed to the altar, this lady that was burdened came and knelt down beside him. The burden somewhat lifted and she got up and he got saved that night.

I said, I'd like to have a little part in that. You know what that was? It was just picking up a soul and carrying it to Jesus like they carried the man with the pole. For a man, if we could get under this heavier burden than sinners are under conviction, we could carry somebody to the altar.

Burden for Souls and Prayer in Worship

I don't like, don't misunderstand me. I'm old but I don't think I'm out of sorts. But I'll tell you my friends, I just don't like to see people come to the house of God and sit and visit and gab and talk.

If we could bow our heads, the outsiders can do that, that's all right. But it seems like if we bow our heads and say, Lord, help in the service to me, send the Holy Ghost to take over, anoint that preacher, drive conviction home, we'd have a greater service.

Are you listening? Will you listen to me? We can't expect sinners to be under deeper conviction than we're under burden. If men don't have deep conviction it's because they fell. Something like that upper room experience.

And people fell from their seats and everywhere he said they were crying. Why he said they drowned me out, I couldn't say anything. I tried to, but I couldn't say they were making so much racket. He said this old fellow they call Rock, I hollered to him and said, pray!

And he said he dropped on his knees and began to pull fire out of heaven. And the young man was repenting and oh the tears were flowing and I said, look to Jesus! And he got saved. And that meeting ran all that day and all that night.

It was the schoolhouse where they were assembled. And they had to move out, but they went somewhere else and it lasted I think another day and another night or two. So still getting saved. Say that's revival, friends.

That isn't worked out, that comes from God. Hallelujah. Love him so. Oh, friends. Parents! Are you listening to me? Parents will be under judgment. Commitment you have to children that are yours. My friends, it's too bad.

Christian Parents and Responsibility for Their Children

I don't feel harsh or unkind. I feel sympathetic. This is an awful day to try to rear children. Our parents and grandparents didn't know anything about the tests and trials of this day, the temptations.

But God is equal to the saints occasionally. Oh, I'll tell you, God is for us. He's more than all that can be against us. You can win out with your family if you start soon enough. Praise God. Noah built an ark to the setting in his house.

Don't you like that? What are you doing there, Noah? I'm building an ark. What are you building an ark for? I'm going to save my family, Shem, Ham, and Jephthah. I'd like to just tell you there, but we mustn't tell you.

Oh, he put some plank in there. One was intercessory prayer. That's a mighty plank to put in an ark. To the setting in his house. He sold away the blood of ridicule, no doubt. Oh, Noah's gone crazy. He's dreaming.

He has a dream of a flood. Another crowd. He made no impression on the crowd. They went right on their way. Thank God he built it. And God showed him how to build it. The window and the top. Hallelujah.

They couldn't see out. They had to look up. And it's kind of dangerous to look around you now. They keep looking up. God was still on the throne. He's still omnipotent. Hallelujah. Praise God. My. Discipline.

That's another plank that must have went in that ark. We'll signify it a little bit. Discipline. When do you start in? As soon as they're born. Amen. You ask anybody that's made a success and they'll tell you.

I know what I'm talking about. My friend. Most parents start too late. The God of heaven. The queen of this whole planet. Makes a covenant. Not depart from it. It becomes a walk. And the filling of their life.

Hallelujah. Isn't that a wonderful promise? Oh God. Help us. Well. What is this? Light of prophet. Withhold not correction from the child. For if I beat him with a rod. He shall not die. Oh mother of mine.

That sounds awful cruel. It's in the bible. Listen to a psychologist. And he said you have no children. And most of them are on the way to hell. You can't improve on the bible method. You say you haven't got any children.

That's the reason I'm preaching on it. Oh help us. Friends if ever we needed something along this line. We certainly did. Christian parents are losing their families. Picture shows and the pool rooms and dance halls and live beer joints and evolution and everything else.

You're pitting against it. But thank God you've got some wonderful promises here. When they're old they'll not depart from it. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And your children. Back it up with discipline.

I tell you the God in heaven will verify his promise. He'll make it good. Friends our children are going to be there. Jesus on the throne. Heaven. All the books. The records are open. And now he's judged the wicked.

Hell, Eternal Consequences, and the Need for Salvation

Bow down. Your children are there. Wouldn't it be something if they were your children on the left side and you were on the right side. You better think about it before it's too late my friends. Oh God help us.

God help us. Would they be facing the lake of fire? I wish some more preachers would preach on hell. It's almost a loss. People don't think about hell anymore. I'll tell you those old preachers would preach on hell tonight.

I feel like I was going to faint already. A moment. That is the lake of fire and brimstone. Listen to me young people. There's a young man back there rather indifferent. The first scourge. You say what a consummate idiot I was.

Why did I reject Jesus Christ? Why did I go on to have a good time in a life that's so short and fleeting? Why did I sell my soul? Now it's forever and ever and ever and ever. No human mind can comprehend the awfulness of eternity.

The awfulness of a lake of fire that burns forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Eternity has just begun. A billion years past. Eternity has just begun. A trillion, a quadrillion, a quintillion, a sextillion, a septillion, a non, a decillion years.

You can't fathom that. Eternity has just begun. Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Read your book. This is the only book that controls the future. No philosopher, no scientist, don't care how brilliant, knows anything about the life on the other side of the cemetery.

But Jesus Christ has been both sides. He knows about hell and he knows about heaven. Oh, we want to hurry here. We'll be weighed by our words, judged by our words. Matthew 13, 12, 37. For by thy words shalt thou be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned.

Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account. Thereof in the day of judgment. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin. Hmm. Hmm. Latimer was on trial, I remember, and he was answering the questions rather carelessly.

They didn't have these recorders then. There was a curtain there, and he heard a pen scratching on the other side of it. He was writing down everything he said. It brought us hysteria. It brought a solemn feeling.

I'll have to face those words again. You and I will have to face every act, every word. We'll be weighed by the light, judged by the light that we have. Jesus said it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment.

He's talking about Capernaum. Thou Capernaum which art exalted. If the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they'd have repented long ago and thus enacted. It's more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Capernaum.

It'll be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you and me. They didn't have a Bible in those days. They didn't have a church. They didn't have a Christian school. They didn't have a tabernacle like this to attain.

Hmm. God. We'll be judged by the light that we have. It's more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Capernaum. What would he say about Pope Sam? Huh. My brother, we have a lot of life. I'd rather die a hunk and ton in the heart of Africa never having heard the name of Jesus and go to hell than to die from America with all these privileges and go to hell.

We must heard or close. The Ten Commandments. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thou shalt not steal and in failure to pay debt. Friends, it's a hard Friday. The preachers are traveling over this country to have debts all over the world.

It's a disgrace. Pay your debts if you don't have anything to eat. Bless God. If you starve to death, you'll go to heaven. If you don't pay your debts, you won't. God help us. Thou shalt not steal. The school I went to, the president had influence of the big money men of the city and he'd solicit money.

And the students, he'd take them on credit. And many of them didn't pay a dime. And she didn't have much money but she kept sending a little and a little and a little until finally she got it paid off.

And the school bankrupted and went into the hands of the receivers. And he got a letter from the head man of the receivership and he said if everybody that went to school was as honest as you are, the school would never bankrupt.

Amen. God help us. He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. Brothers on one side, children on the other. Daughters on one side, sister on the other. Sisters on one side, you hear this?

Family Separation at the Final Judgment

My brother won't that be a terrible Sunday. Husband over here, wife over here. Children over here. Oh God help us. Hmm. Hmm. My father was a lawyer. I guess that's one reason why I think so much of the judgment.

I don't preach on it much. It's a hard thing to preach on. But my father was a lawyer. And I've heard him tell those awful scenes in the courtroom. I think, I just kind of partially, I remember some of them, but this one I think, a little boy jumped, they took the father.

I'd forgotten what the charge was, whether it was murder or robbery or what it was. And the officer started asking, the jury found him guilty. And that little boy jumped up to tears and said, daddy, don't leave me.

Mama, they're taking my daddy away. Mama, stop that man. He's taking my, never to see him again. But what of sin? When father goes down to the lake of fire, burning. And maybe mother goes to heaven. Or vice versa.

God help me. Hmm. Oh, we're going to have to close. I'm sorry to kept you so long. But I'll tell you friends, when we hear that, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom of God for you from the foundation of the world.

Nobody could describe that. Oh, he's God. The saints of God are welcomed home. They've lived for God down here. They've been true followers of Jesus. And now he's going to take them to live with him throughout eternity.

Oh, hallelujah. Passing suns and moons and comets. They're going to the city of God up there somewhere. I'm going to find out where it is. Some of these days. Hallelujah. Praise God. The gates of Paul and on the streets of gold and go down the river of life and sit on the banks of the river and sing the songs of Zion.

Praise our Redeemer that died to save us. No more care, no more sorrow, no more hunger, no more thirsty throughout all eternity. Hallelujah. I want to go to heaven. I want to see Jesus first of all. Hallelujah.

Oh, but here's the crowd depart for the beast and the false prophet. This man came down and died. And he said, guard me when I lie upon the fires of hell for a thousand years if it will bring me back into favor with God.

But one thousand years is of no more consequence than one poor hour. It's forever. The companion, he said, you haven't got it until now. I didn't believe there was a God. I didn't believe there was a hell.

Not half of the almighty God. Sir Francis Newport, that was a brilliant man, but he's dying. His wrath has fallen upon me. Gladly will I lie on the fires of hell for a thousand years if it will atone for my sin.

But one thousand years is of no more consequence to me than one poor hour. It's forever and ever and ever. He turned and stared. He was a brilliant man. Who can paraphrase those words forever? Forever.